Match Highlights

BOSTON – In all three Little East Conference playoff matches this weekend, the higher-seeded team which won the regular-season contest lost to its lower-seeded opponent.

That scenario played out well for the Eastern Connecticut State University in Saturday's semifinal victory, but came back to bite them in the final, as fourth-seeded Western Connecticut State University avenged a regular-season sweep to dump the third-seeded Warriors in four sets to capture the 2014 championship Sunday afternoon at the Clark Athletic Center on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus. Western won by scores of 25-14, 21-25, 25-13, 25-17.

The title is the sixth for Western (25-10) – which carries a six-match winning streak into NCAA play -- but first since it claimed the fifth of five straight championships in 2003. Since the Colonials' 2003 title, Eastern (17-17) had won three championships in a row. Neither team had advanced to the final since the Warriors' sweep of Western in the 2007 title match at Keene, NH.

After the clubs traded victories Sunday, Western set the tempo for the rest of the match in the third set when it scored eight straight to pull away to a 17-8 lead on the way to the 12-point victory. Hoping to extend the match to five – where it was a perfect 3-0 against the Colonials in the all-time series – Eastern never led in what turned out to be its final set of the season. After freshman Megan Macomber's (South Windsor) kill pulled Eastern to within one, 10-9, Western answered with a kill from tournament MVP Karissa Smith – a sophomore outside hitter – and sophomore setter Danielle Kaminsky's service ace made it a three-point game. Western later pushed the lead to seven and Eastern never got closer than six thereafter.

Smith, who attacked in negative numbers in Western's three-set loss at Eastern Oct. 7, led all players with 15 kills on a .267 attack percentage Sunday. As a team, the Colonials followed their .000 attack percentage in the regular-season loss with a mark of .223, with senior middle hitter Heather Williams amassing 11 kills and a .421 attack percentage.

Junior libero Allie Luppi (Tewksbury, MA) led Eastern with 20 digs and was successful on 95.7 percent of her 23 reception attempts.  Sophomore Adrianna Mihalek (Woodbury) and sophomore Hannah Bryant (Avon) combined for 21 kills and senior Allie Henry (Middletown) set for 36 assists.

In Saturday's semifinals, Eastern avenged a four-set regular-season loss to second-seeded Keene State College by sweeping the Owls, and Western knocked off top-seeded and five-time defending champion UMass Boston in four after dropping a five-set regular-season decision to the Beacons on the same court.

Western becomes the lowest-seeded team to win the title since Eastern rode to the 2007 championship as the No. 5 seed with three road victories against higher-seeded opponents. From 2008 through 2013, the top seed had won all but one title. The Colonials are 5-2 against Eastern in title matches and have triumphed six times in eight championship appearances overall.